CVE-126 was assigned the name Lingayen after a gulf on the west coast of Luzon (NS0312601), Philippine Islands, where American troops landed on 9 January 1945, and drove on to liberate Manila and the rest of the island. (Map courtesy of Google Maps.)

NS0312601a: Kamikaze attacks at Lingayen Gulf, January 1945. HMAS Australia is shown. Artwork by John Hamilton from his publication, War at Sea, pg. 241. Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Gallery.

NS013822: In one of the most famous photographs of the war, USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) in the van at Lingayen Gulf during the recapture of the Philippines, January 1945. Ships are from front to back: battleships Pennsylvania and Colorado (BB-45), heavy cruisers USS Louisville (CA-28) and USS Portland (CA-33), followed by the light cruiser USS Columbia (CL-56). A wartime censor has deleted the radar on Pennsylvania. (Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).)